Best Skateboards For Kids

Buying your first (or even second!) skateboard can be confusing – with so many different shapes, and sizes available, it can be tricky deciding which board is right for you. A complete skateboard is always the best option for a beginner, as this offers all the components needed to get you up and rolling straight away. Here we’ll take a look at some different boards to see which is best suited for you!

6-9 Years

There’s no defined age of which is right to start skateboarding, however 6 years old is often seen as a suitable age for someone to start finding their feet, providing the right safety gear is worn.

At this age, a child should be riding a ‘Mini’ Skateboard. A mini skateboard is often classed as any board that is shorter than 31” in length, or is less than 7.5” wide. The trucks and wheels are scaled down to be proportionate to the board size with mini skateboarders, creating a smaller, lighter board.

Riding a smaller board at this age will help with progression and safety, as a board of this size is easier to manoeuvre. Any board between 7.2” and 7.5” wide would be suitable. It’s always worth trying out a few different sizes to see which is most comfortable, as different brands of board often have different shapes. You can shop our range of mini skateboards here!

9-13 Years

By 9 years, a child should be ready to move up to a full size skateboard. A full size skateboard should be 31” or longer and be wider than 7.5”. Full size boards range up to around 8.5” typically, however for the younger skater, anything between 7.5” and 8.0” wide would be ideal.

Narrow boards are easier to flip and pop, whereas wider boards offer more stability and more room to land tricks on. Because of this, narrower boards are more suited towards street skating and wider boards are more suited to ramp or park skating.

As always, it’s best to try a few different boards to find which one you are most comfortable with before settling on one. You can take a look at our range of full sized boards between 7.5” and 8.0” here!

13+ Years

Any board between 8.0” and 8.5” inches would be suitable for this age. The same rule applies here as to board width and style – a narrower board is more suited to street skating and a wider board is more suited to a skate park/ramps.

For more advanced skateboarders at this age, custom skateboards are also an option. Although a full set-up would be slightly more expensive, this allows the rider to fully customise their board, tailoring to their exact preferences.

Again, there are plenty of different board shapes and sizes available between these widths, so trying out a few different boards to find out what you’re most comfortable with is always a good idea. You can shop all complete skateboards between 8" and 8.5" here.

For more help and advice with building a custom skateboard check out our range of guides to parts here –